First Official Photo: John Cusack as Edgar Allan Poe in 'The Raven'

Once upon a midnight dreary… We finally have our first "action shot" look at John Cusack as poet Edgar Allan Poe in the new movie from James McTeigue (V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin) titled The Raven. Relativity is bringing the film to Comic-Con, so I have a feeling marketing is going to start ramping up, and this is our very first tease. It's basically just Cusack making quite a stance, but I'm looking forward to seeing more, I always love to see what McTeigue does. Set in 1849, the story is about a hunt for a serial killer who kills are inspired by his poems. The cast, not pictured, includes Alice Eve, Luke Evans and Brendan Gleeson.

Thanks to our friend Anthony on Entertainment Weekly for debuting the photo, including some quotes from McTeigue. "We have real elements from Poe's life, in and out of the story. He was a troubled figure and that's alluded to in the film. Ultimately he becomes one of the characters in his own story." Here's the photo:

McTeigue continues: "I wanted someone who could show all the demons but ultimately you would connect with him. People respond to him, but I also thought in the character of John Cusack there's a darker side." Definitely sounds like it will be fascinating and eerie in a Se7en way, which is referenced with this film a lot.

The Raven is inspired by the famous Edgar Allen Poe poem. McTeigue explained to us last year that it's "an amalgamation of Poe's stories crossed with Se7en. It's about a serial killer loose in 1849 Baltimore." As for the actual plot, he stated that "at each murder that he does, the killer leaves a clue, and basically Poe is set against the clock to find someone before they die." The screenplay is by Ben Livingston and Hannah Shakespeare. Relativity and Rogue Pictures are distributing and have set a release date on March 9th, 2012 next year for The Raven, so we've got something to look forward to at least! Stay tuned. Look good?